Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-13
JAIL DELIVERY.
prisoners Make n Wild Break
for Freedom.

for Freedom.
There was delivery of prisoners at
the county Jail last evening and fifteen
of the incarcerated violators of the law
made bold dash and regained their
freedom. The circumstances are as fol-
lows: On last Friday Col. Jim Thomp-
son, the Jailor, applied to Sheriff kays
for few days leave of absence for the
purpose of visiting his ranch in Ventura
county. He told the Sheriff that he
had engaged j. Del Vale, young man
who is now deputy Constable under
Ed. Smith, and formerly deputy Jailor,
10 take his place during his absence.
He also stated that Jack Clark would
remain as deputy Jailor. Sheriff Kays,
hav ng confidence in Mr.. Thompson's
choics of assistants, readily gave the re-
quested leave of absence. All went
along nicely until last night
shortly after 6 o'clock At 6
o'clock every evening the prisoners in
the upper tier of cells are all turned into
the corridor and allowed to exercise
there for couple of hours. One of the
prisoners, named Richard Morton, was
suffering from an infamed arm, caused
by vaccination, and asked Clark, who
was the only officer in the Jail at the
time, for a piece of sticking plaster.
Clark complied with the request and
opened the door of the corridor to apply
the plaster to Morton's arm. As he did
so the horde of jail-birds, about
sixty strong, made rush for
the unfortunate turnkey, and knock.
ing him down, rifed his pockets
of the keys to the outer door of the Jail.
The prisoners then made q break for the
outer door and got it open and then be-
gan to swarm out like bees. The noise
had attracted the attention of JOSEF h
Myers, man who is serving a short
term and who is very trusty, and is the
cook of the Jail. Myers rushed up from
the kitchen with a cleaver in his hand,
and gaining the front door, stemmed the
tide of escaping prisoners by
swearing he would cleave the
skull Of the next man who attempted to
leave the Jail. Clark had been carried
out of the Jail in the rush of the prison
ers and gave the alarm. Deputy Sheriff
Cruz and Deputies Constable Clements
and Del Valle fastened to the scene and
found the redoubtable Myers holding
the remaining prisoners at bay. These
fellows were soon replaced in their cells,
and count showed that fifteen men had
escaped, whose names and offenses are
as follows:
E. j. Stoddard. petit larceny; Burk
Frank; burglary; Ed. Hayes, burglary:
Fred. Peterson, burglary; James Patter.
son, robbery; David Dillon, robbery;
Pat. Griffin, robbery; Richard Morton,
robbery; c. B. Purcell, grand larceny;
Geo. c. Jackson, grand larceny; Ander.
son Duffy, robbery; James Maloney,
petit larceny; Ed. Davis, robbery; Albert
NJ orrison, grand larceny; l.. D. Fulton,
robbery.
1t is said that the escapes made bee
line for the railroad track, and the sup.
position is that they have struck for the
north. Constable Smith, Deputy Jailor
Clark and several special officers started
in pursuit, and Sheriff Kays has hopes of
capturing all of the liberty lovers.
J. Del Vale last night stated that
when Mr.. Thompson left he did not ap.
point him as Jailor. That Mr.. Thomp.
son said to him "Del Valle, l am going
away, and during my absence wish you
would drop in at the Jail several times
day and sleep there at night. "This
Mr.. DelVale promised to do and has done
SO. He was at the Jail about half past
four o'clock yesterday afternoon. He
says that he did not consider himself as
Jailor in the absence of Mr.. Thompson,
while on the other hand Sheriff Kays
says be was assured by Mr.. Thompson
that Mr.. Dsl Vale would stay at the Jail
constantly. 1t is an unfortunate affair
but such things will occasionally happen.
The action Of the trusty cook Myers
stands out brightly and his sentence
should be at once commuted. Among
the prisoners whom he held at bay with
the cleaver were several men charged
with murder and assault to murder, but
they preferred to stay in Jail rather than
run against the cleaning blade,